I'm taking it back a little bit here just to prove that white men can indeed jump.

Tom Chambers was probably the best damn player on "Laker vs. Celtics" when it came to Genesis back in the early 90s - do you remember his triple-pump dunk from the three-point line? - and this clip shows why. Tommy goes baseline and dunks on the entire city of Boston.

Congratulations to Scotty Nguyen, who took down the $50k HORSE Championship early this morning. For those that don't know, many (most?) see this World Series of Poker event as the real world poker championship.

Scotty is now the first player to have won the main event and the HORSE championship. He actually gives a good word to the wise in this interview about young players that need to learn how to win with class and I'm in complete agreement. "Act like you've been there before."

I ran into Scotty when I was in Vegas earlier this month and he is definitely a class act who is friendly to everyone he passes. Congrats.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Diamond Supply Co. is notorious for their historic collaborations. The latest is an exclusive tee shirt with Raekwon The Chef of the infamous Wu-Tang Clan. The tees come in two colorways; white and black, and they will begin to release this Saturday, June 28th at the Diamond Supply Co store in Los Angeles. Raekwon the Chef will be making an appearance and Power 106 will be in the mix. If you cant make it out to LA not to fear, a limited amount of the tees will also drop next week at the Diamond online store.

This is definitely one of the illest songs that I've heard this year. Nas comes at Fox News in a way that should've been done a long time ago. I haven't watched Fox News in at least five years and I'm hoping that this will open more eyes to the propaganda that Fox News spreads. Hopefully Nas' new album will emobdy that power that hip-hop music can truly hold and the knowledge it can spread with creative and revolutionary art.

What do you do if you don't have the live stage presence of a Busta Rhymes or a KRS-ONE? You back your shit up with a live band and a sick DJ (DJ Neil Armstrong). Here's Jigga Dude giving a great performance in Norway.

Air Jordan partnered up with International Tournament Quai 54 to produce 2 very symbolic shoes, Wine & Grind, exclusive to the city of Paris. The Wine, appropriately colored in dark maroon, represents the French’s sophistication and is designed with Air Jordan Fusion V as the base model. The Grind represents the alleys and playgrounds of Paris, and is embodied by the Jordan Esterno.

170 pairs of the Wine will be made and only be sold at Opium and Colette shops in Paris. Only 155 pairs of the Grind will be made and sold at Opium, Colette, and Foot Locker Pierre Lescot. Both shoes will be available July 4th, with a special animation released by Nike for Colette on the night of July 3rd.

Here's John Daly teeing off of Kid Rock's beer can at some Pro-Am in the midwest (of course). I don't know what's worse, the fact that fat ass Daly is teeing off of Kid Rock's tall boy, or the fact that Kid Rock is wearing overalls while he's golfing.

I’m not going to go into all the details of the draft. Chad Ford has a pretty good, if overly positive, rundown here. These are just the ones that popped out at me.

The Good

Derrick Rose to ChicagoThe obvious pick. They have a lot of talented forwards and scoring guards. Now they have a point guard to go with that.

Michael Beasley to MiamiI know the Heat need a point guard, but I think they need some inside scoring more. Marion has limitations and Haslem is no scorer. Plus if, as it looks right now, Beasley is more suited to playing the 3 than the 4, then Marion becomes expendable.

Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Jason Collins and Brian Cardinal to MinnesotaThe T’wolves actually played this pretty smart. Instead of getting another combo guard to compete with Rashad McCants and Randy Foye for PT, they got a sweet passing big man. Minny has perhaps the perfect set-up for Kevin Love to shine with athletic wing players like McCants, Foye and Gerald Green more than capable of finishing on the break. Plus they get a shooter in Mike Miller and a decent defensive presence in Jason Collins…or was that Jarron Collins? I can never remember. As an added bonus, they got rid of Antoine Walker.

Joe Alexander and Richard Jefferson to MilwaukeeI initially thought the drafting was brilliant because of the fact that Alexander, while intriguing in a Travis Outlaw kind of way, speaks Mandarin. How can you go wrong with a super athletic swingman who gives Yi Jianlian someone to talk to? However, in light of the Yi and Bobby Simmons for Jefferson trade, that aspect of his drafting becomes redundant. However, with Jefferson as the go-to guy, Michael Redd can go back to doing what he does best and Alexander can back them up off the bench. Not too shabby.

Jerryd Bayless to PortlandIt’ll be interesting to see how he develops in Portland. There won’t be too much pressure for him to run the team seeing as how Roy is their de facto point guard, so he’ll be free to continue being a scorer.

The Bad

OJ Mayo, Antoine Walker, Marko Jaric and Greg Buckner to MemphisMy initial reaction to this trade was, “WHAT THE F*CK IS CHRIS WALLACE SMOKING?!” With a little bit of time to reflect this has been upgraded to merely, “Ew.” The Mayo deal kind of makes sense. They do need some offense and having a big name like Mayo on the roster will hopefully keep their fans from rioting. However, I’m skeptical about Mayo’s prospects in the pros. Yeah he’s a good scorer and playing for the Grizz will mean he won’t have to run the point. But his lack of size and quickness are going to hinder his effectiveness. Plus Memphis now has 5 pointguards and a frontcourt that includes Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown and Antoine Walker.

Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons to New JerseySo the Nets got rid of their best player for what again? They’re officialy in rebuilding mode and I kind of like Yi’s long term potential, but does this trade make any kind of sense? Somebody help me figure this out.

The Ugly

Anthony Randolph to Golden StateHe’s listed at 6’10, 197 and is projected as a Power Forward. This should be interesting. One thing’s for sure. Nellie-ball ain’t dead.

DJ Augustin and Alexis Ajinca to CharlotteAugustin is an upgrade over Raymond Felton how, exactly? And who the heck is Alexis Ajinca? Oh, he’s a big young PF with no real achievements thus far but drafted in the first round by Michael Jordan on potential alone? Am I the only person having a déjà vu attack?*

Roy Hibbert to IndianaThe guy’s a stiff. The only thing that kept him in the first round was his size. I don’t see him doing any better in the pros than the Collins twins.

*Disclaimer: I once thought that Nikoloz Tskitishvili was a "can't miss" pro. So I could be wrong about this, as well as everything else.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

I really wanted to post a Derrick Rose highlight here, after my Bullies took him No. 1 tonight in the draft, but I just posted one a couple of weeks ago. So to commemorate John Paxson's perfect shot, I'll give you this clip of him hitting his last perfect shot. (Note Dan Majerle throwing his hands up in the foreground cuz he knows Johnny Pax is money with an open J.):

UNDRCRWN has joined Adidas in a promotional package of the top five (projected) picks in today's draft. Each player was given a pack that included track jackets and t-shirts. My sources tell me that O.J. Mayo is a pen away from inking to Nike, who made a big push at him when he visited their campus in Beaver, OR, last week.

In honor of today's NBA draft, ESPN Page 2 has a great article discussing the best pick at every spot in the draft, from the top pick (they took Shaq over Duncan), to the #60 pick in the second round (Drazen Petrovic). There are definitely some very questionable picks by writer Mike Lynch, such as D.Wade over not only Kevin Garnett, but also Scottie Pippen at the #5 spot. Obviously nearly every spot in the first round has either a hall of famer or an all-star, but the #12 spot is incredibly lacking, to say the least. The best player ever drafted 12th? Mookie Blaylock.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Jermaine O'neal to Toronto for TJ Ford, Rasho Nesterovich the 17th pick in the draft and a player to be named. Here's the story on ESPN

I like this trade from Toronto's point of view. A lot. I was kind of (read; VERY!!!) annoyed that the Suns traded Marion for the Big Defensive Liability instead of the other O'neal last season. But bygones are bygones and JO has finally found a new home. This works out great for the Raptors, because now they can stop platooning the point. By most accounts Jose Calderon was their better PG last season and so they might actually be getting better by allowing him to start and play significant minutes. The guy averaged 7 asts in about 25 mins/gm last season so it will be interesting to see what he does in extended minutes this season. However, the Raptors will need a viable back-up.

Also with O'neal's ability to play the Center at both ends of the floor, the Raptors become a legitimate contendor in the East. They have someone who is or should be capable of boxing out Dwight Howard, which will come in handy no doubt. Plus O'neal's ability to play with his back to the basket should allow Chris Bosh to go back to doing what he does best. Playing from the high post and beating other PFs with his quickness.

The Pacers go into full-on rebuilding mode. Looks like Jamaal Tinsley is now expendable with the addition of Ford and the Pacers can still find a decent big man with their two first round picks (11th and 17th) in the draft.

I've never been a huge fan of K-Mart, but I like him more than Jermaine O'Neal. However, I do own an O'Neal jersey simply for the face-melting punch he swung during the Artest melee, seen here at about the 49-second mark:

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

PHOENIX -- Shaquille O'Neal will lose his special deputy's badge in Maricopa County because of language he used in a rap video that mocks former teammate Kobe Bryant.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the Phoenix Suns center's use of a racially derogatory word and other foul language left him no choice. Arpaio made Shaq a special deputy in January and promoted him to colonel of his largely ceremonial posse earlier this month.

Looks like Kobe has already started using his juice to get back at Shaq. We all know he pulled some strings to get Shaq released from his prestigious Maricopa County Sheriff's position as a volunteer.

A lot of y'all didn't get to see B.D. before his knee surgery either because you're too young, you weren't on the west coast or you were just sleeping.

Dude was sick from his days at Crossroads H.S. in Santa Monica to ... well, he's still sick. But there was a time when he hadn't had a knee surger yet and he was on the court doing things that no one else was doing.